We weren’t cheated, claims McCall

ULSTER coach Mark McCall rejected claims the television match official had robbed his side of victory in Saturday’s Heineken Cup clash with Saracens.

The Irishmen trailed 15-10 at Vicarage Road when they appeared to have hauled themselves back into the game with two minutes to go after an Andrew Trimble break was finished by Kevin Maggs.

Trimble had clearly stepped into touch before feeding Maggs but the touch judge kept his flag down and referee Joel Jutge went to the television match official for a verdict on the score.

Rules state only the try-scorer can be examined by the TMO so according to the law book the try should have stood, but McCall had no complaints.

"My understanding is that you can go upstairs for the try-scorer but not the person who gave the pass, so in that respect the officials got it wrong. But we don't feel cheated because it wasn't a try," he said.

Ulster, who crossed through Trimble in the sixth minute, were beaten 18-10 after conceding a penalty which Glen Jackson booted to deny them a crucial bonus point and effectively end their hopes of qualifying for the quarter-finals.

"It was very disappointing to concede that penalty under the sticks at the end. It will be difficult for us to qualify now. Ideally we needed to win today and if not we needed a bonus point," he said.

"We'll do our best in the last two games. We dug in, scrambled and did our best but on the day it just wasn't good enough. Saracens played a lot better than last week."

Tries from Ben Skirving and Kevin Yates helped Saracens leapfrog Ulster into second place in pool four and they could yet reach the Heineken Cup knockout stages.

They should overcome Italian whipping boys Treviso on January 16 and then face a trip to French giants and pool leaders Biarritz, leaving boss Steve Diamond to admit the club's fate is in their own hands.

"I was very happy to beat Ulster because wins are hard to come by in this group. If we get a bonus point against Treviso then we have a chance in Biarritz," he said. "Biarritz is a difficult environment to play in. We beat them at home but its different going down there I did that with Sale and they put 40 points on us."

Andy Farrell missed out on his Saracens debut after failing a fitness test and Diamond admitted the player is becoming "depressed" with his ongoing injury problems.

"Andy is training well but it's difficult when you're recovering from long-term injury and haven't played for many months," he said.

SARACENS: Scarbrough; Bailey, Castaignede, Johnston, Vaikona; Jackson, Bracken; Yates, Byrne, Visagie; Raiwalui, Chesney; Vyvyan, B Russell, Skirving.

Replacements: B Russell for Scarbrough (79), Bartholomeusz for Castaignede (65), Dickens for Bracken (56), Seymour for Raiwalui (76), Broster for B Russell (24), Randell for Skirving (58).

ULSTER: Cunningham; Bowe, Maggs, Trimble, Steinmetz; Humphreys, Campbell; B Young, R Best, S Best; Harrison, McCullough; N Best, McMillan, Wilson.

Replacements: Topping for Cunningham (66), Boss for Campbell (52), J Fitzpatrick for B Young (52), Ferris for N Best (33), Caldwell for Ferris (63).

Referee: Joel Jutge (France)